STEVE COTTRELL: Might a gizmo aid in conceptualization?

Sunday

Mar 4, 2018 at 6:36 AMMar 4, 2018 at 6:36 AM

At its meeting last Wednesday afternoon, the St. Augustine Confederate Memorial Contextualization Advisory Committee may have found a way to create a meaningful narrative for the 1879 obelisk at the Plaza de la Constitucion.

In trying to deal with what is often called the Goldilocks Question (too much vs. too little), the seven-member committee has wrestled with how best to tell the kind of inclusive story many residents think ought to be told.

The City Commission’s Jananuary directive to the committee is challenging: “The scope of the committee’s work is to identify gaps in Civil War history and create a continuum of the story of St. Augustine; to recognize the city’s unique and diverse heritage; seek public input on contextualization; recommend a contextualization plan and implementation strategy; provide order of magnitude cost and financing options; and provide a process going forward that is transparent (and) inclusive.”

That’s a tall order to fill.

But when committee member Elizabeth Dove, an adjunct history professor at Flagler College, offered a possible solution for telling an inclusive story without turning the plaza into a marker garden, it piqued the interest of others.

Dove noted that something as simple as having two-dimensional QR codes discretely affixed to one or more new plaques (but not the existing war memorial) — or creation of a special GPS app — could lead to a much fuller story than the committee had previously thought possible. No vote was taken, but there was general consensus that the idea warranted further discussion.

As I watched an archived video replay of the meeting on the city’s website, I had no idea what the heck Ms. Dove was talking about, and it seemed a couple committee members were scratching their heads as well.

QR Code? What’s a QR Code?

QR Code stands for Quick Response Code — a two-dimensional image read by a smartphone, connecting the user with as much history and “contextualization” as needed. And it’s not a new idea for St. Augustine. Thanks to a $28,000 state grant, QR codes were included with 30 new historical markers in 2016.

So maybe the solution for providing appropriate context to a 19th century war memorial is to install 21st century gizmos and have the thingamajigs interact with smartphones? It would make St. Augustine history accessible to visitors and others in ways that would have seemed like science fiction a few years ago.

The QR Code whatchamacallit has become a common sight in magazine ads, on business cards — and even on tombstones. Yep, that’s right. It’s now possible for the deceased to literally talk from beyond the grave by prerecording a video or audio message and having a QR Code filigree affixed to their headstone.

Last week, as the contextualization committee discussed the potential of QR coding, there was uncertainty about the cost for utilizing such a sophisticated storytelling tool. Money is always an issue at City Hall, but I bet there are some wiz kids across the street at Flagler College who would love to get involved with QR coding and website design as a community project. And another state grant might be possible as well.

As Ms. Dove explained it, old photos, documents, newspaper clippings, narration and even historical reenactments could be included on video images — retrieved through two-dimensional QR Code squares. Content could be accessed from the city website or a new website designed specifically for the contextualization project.

The committee is still in its brainstorming mode and no recommendations have been formalized for City Commission review. But if use of QR codes or GPS-reliant doodads can tell the inclusive story many St. Augustine residents would like to have told — and the technology will remain relevant for the foreseeable future — I believe it’s an idea worth pursuing.

The committee will meet again March 8, beginning at 3 p.m. in the Alcazar Room at City Hall. And they welcome public input.

Steve Cottrell can be contacted at cottrell.sf@gmail.com

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